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Tri-Counties Genealogy &
History by Joyce M. Tice
Churches of the Tri-Counties
Area
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Park Church, Elmira, Chemung
County NY |
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Joyce's Search Tip - January 2008
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CHARTER MEMBERS OF THE PARK CHURCH
FOUNDED 1846 ELMIRA, NEW YORK
Forty members of the Presbyterian Church objecting to pro-slavery preaching
gave The Park Church its start. These forty were strong Abolitionists,
some of them aiding the Underground Railway station in Elmira. In
order to foster their beliefs on this burning issue they left their church
and founded on January 2, 1846, The First Independent Congregational Church.
In 1871 it became The Park Church in Elmira. Among the charter members
wee the names of six family alignments; John Selover, Elnathan Green; David
Young, Mrs. John Selover, Mrs. Cornelia Young and Mrs. Jane Green.
All were close church friends including Jervis Langdon, whose son-in-law
was Samuel L. Clemens, writer Mark Twain. However nobly the little
church was begun, during the first four years three ministers and a layman
followed each other in rapid succession as pastors. But the struggling
abolitionist church held on because of a small core group of five laymen
and in 1854 Reverend Thomas K. Beecher became its minister and continued
until his death in 1900.
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Postcards show Park Church in summer and winter.
Thomas Beecher is shown in a stereoscopic view above.
His statue (left) remains by Park Church. |
Subj: Charter members, The Park Church, Elmira
Date: 01/10/2004 7:49:38 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: NiniAndr
To: JoyceTice
Joyce:
I recently purchased the "Centennial Album, Published during the One
Hundreth Year of the Park Church in Elmira, New York, 1946." On page 50
there is a list of the charter Park Church members. I noticed that on the
Tri-Counties web site there is a reference to those members, but no names.
Here is the list shown in the above album:
CHARTER MEMBERS
1846
John Selover
H. N. Comstock
Mrs. Mary A. Smith
Thomas Day
Jeremiah Hedges
Mrs. Sarah A. Tillotson
Silas Billings
Ira Gould
Mrs. I. P. Wilcox
Hezekiah Whittelsey Albert M. Potter
Mrs. Harriet Holden
Stephen Hanford
Jervis Langdon
Mrs. Bethany Hanford
Abraham DeLabar
Augustus F. Holt
Mrs. Emeline Hanford
Norman Smith
Hiram Crafts
Mrs. Lucy A. Day
Joshua Cleeves
Mrs. C. B. Andrus
Mrs. Elizabeth Cleeves
S. G. Andrus
Mrs. Nancy W. Robinson Miss Sarah A. Andrus
Philander Rexford
Mrs. John Selover
Miss Mary Hubbard
John M. Robinson
Mrs. Ira Gould
Miss Martha Tompkins
Elnathan G. Green
Mrs. Cornelia Young
Miss Abby W. Cleeves
G. A. Gridley
Mrs. Martha Hedges Mrs. Elizabeth Potter
Thomas B. Covell
Mrs. Emily Johnson Mrs. Olivia
Langdon
Henry Hanford
Mrs. Catherine Rexford
Mrs. Augustus Holt
David Young
Mrs. Abby Covell
Miss Azuba Whittlesey
Mrs. Jane Green
In 1994, Gretchen Sharlow, then Director of the Elmira College Center
for Mark Twain Studies, sent me copies of parts of the original member
register of Park Church, curtesy of Mr. Ray Hebb of Park Church. (I have
copies of only those parts which included individuals I had named in a
query to Park Church,) The list shown in the album above is in the exact
order of the parts of the register copies I have. The male charter members
were admitted January 5, 1846. A separate register for women has the female
charter members admitted January 3, 1846.
I thought you might like to add the above list to the Park Church link.
Cornelia Andrus
Hi Joyce,
I just discovered the great page that you've put together
of Park Church post cards and the list of the charter members of Park Church.
I'd like to suggest one correction - Hiram Crane not Craft. I am
familiar with Hiram Crane because he was the father of Theodore Crane,
the husband of Susan Langdon Crane. Hiram Crane and his
wife Anna Crane are buried in the Second Street cemetery.Hiram Crane, like
Jervis Langdon was one of Elmira's early lumber merchants. Hope this
note is helpful for your work. Happy New Year, Gretchen Sharlow
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Published On Tri-Counties Site On 18 SEP 2003
By Joyce M. Tice
You are our welcome visitor 18 SEP 2003 |
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